Scarab Locket
by Blue-Starlight92
Summary: Set during the events of The Mummy, Sarah Daniels is Mr. Daniels daughter, and has managed to convince him to let her come along. When she becomes friends with Evelyn, she sinks in deeper into the legend than anyone could have realized. COMPLETE.
1. The Adventure of a Lifetime

**Authors Note: Hello everyone! I just wanted to say, this is my first Mummy fic, and reviews are much appreciated. I'll try not to put Sarah in too many movie scene's, cause I know that gets alittle old, but if I put afew in there, it's just 'cause it was unavoidable. Thank you very much for reading!**

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Chapter 1

The Adventure of a Lifetime

"Come on daddy! PLEEEAAASSSEEEE???" I begged my dad, trying so hard to put on the puppy- dog eyes I knew he couldn't resist.

"You're not going Sarah!" My dad looked over at his two best friends, Mark Henderson, and Andrew Burns, known to me as 'Uncle Mark and Uncle Andrew' with silent pleas for help.

"Sarah, think about it." Uncle Andrew tried to reason with me. "You can just stay over at Emily's house until we get back. You'll have a lot more fun anyway."

Emily was my babysitter, and one of the most boring people on the planet. I gave him a look that clearly stated what I was thinking 'Are you kidding me?'

"Look, Sarah, I want to let you go, honey, but it's just too dangerous!" Dad attempted to reason with me again.

"Yah, and this place we're goin' is more dangerous than most of 'em" Uncle Mark drawled.

"But dad, I've been in tombs before with mom, and I was only three then!" There, whatever they said now would probably amount to some deal that was made where I could go; my mother had died of the consumption when I was five.

Dad sighed and put his head in his hands. "Sarah, go somewhere" he pointed to the stairs "Henderson, Burns and I need to talk."

I walked out of the room and up the stairs, and down the hallway toward my bedroom, but stopped at a grate that led right into the living room, and I could hear every word they said

"- personally, Daniels, I was just siding with you 'cause you would have throttled me if I didn't!" Uncle Mark's booming laugh flooded my eardrums. Dad looked annoyed, and turned to Uncle Andrew for support.

"Daniels, there's a lot to do in Cairo, lets take her with us, and maybe we can talk her and some hotel manager into letting her stay there.

"David." I listened real hard, Uncle Mark only used my dad's first name when he was real serious. "Sarah's ten, okay? I know that's really young to be even considering taking her with us, but she's a lot more mature than other girls her age, even older girls, and she can take care of herself a lot better than you probably realize. Heck, she'll probably end up helping Burns across the desert!" He suddenly laughed.

They were gonna convince daddy! I knew they would! They just HAD too! I listened even harder at the grate, what would dad say?

"So we try the Cairo thing? What if she doesn't want to stay?" Dad was weighing the pros and cons of this whole venture.

"Daniels, she's gonna end up goin' anyway, so don't worry about it! She's got us three, she'll be fine." Uncle Mark drawled.

Dad hung his head and sighed. My heart leaped to my throat; what would he say? Had Uncle Mark and Uncle Andrew finally persuaded him? He looked up again and walked toward the base of the stairs-

"SARAH!" He yelled up the stairs, and I ran halfway down them, looking at him, waiting for what he was going to say. He sighed "Go get packed."

"YES!" I screamed, jumping the rest of the way down, like I could fly, and hugging him around the neck "I love you!" I yelled as I ran back up the stairs.

* * *

I sat on the couch in the hotel suite that dad, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Andrew were sharing, reading, or pretending to at least. In reality I was listening to them talk.

"So, when are we meeting that Egyptologist fella?" Dad asked.

"Um, in half an hour. We're going to his office, but it's only a 10 minute walk from here." Uncle Andrew replied.

"Wha' 'bout that sleaze-ball guide that we hired?" Uncle Mark asked. Uncle Andrew rolled his eyes, his expression saying 'don't y'all pay attention to anything?' "We're meeting Beni Gabor at the dock whenever we leave, but Dr. Chamberlain will call him and tell him what day we're leavin'"

"That's fine." Dad leaned back in his chair.

"D' y'all want me to come with ya?" I looked up from my book. They all turned to look at me.

"No." They said at the same time. I huffed and actually started to read the book this time.

* * *

"Beni, this is my daughter, Sarah. Sarah, this is Mr. Gabor." My dad introduced me to our guide. He, somewhat reluctantly, offered his hand, and I took it, and gave a fake smile as I squeezed his hand, hard. I could tell he was fighting a yelp as he quickly shook my hand, and let go. Dad gave me a look that clearly said 'Sarah, be nice' and Beni led the way onto the ship. I knew our things had already been put in our cabins by the diggers Dad had hired. I followed Dad to the railing of the ship and climbed onto the first rung, so I could see. Suddenly a man in a white suit and a red hat called out to us, saying something in Arabic that I remembered mom telling me was "good morning."

"Morning, Doctor!" Uncle Mark yelled back to him. The man who was apparently the doctor walked onto the ship. Walking over to us he shook hands with Dad, Uncle Mark and Uncle Andrew, and then he looked at me.

"Ah, hello, young lady!" He smiled at me, bending down ever so slightly. "I remember your father telling me about you coming! Sarah, right?" He held out his hand, and I took it, not squeezing it like I did with Beni. He was a little bit weird, and I knew I would get tired if he kept talking to me like an adult does to a five year old that they meet on the street, but he was nice enough.

"Hey Sarah, can you go find something to do? We still have a few things to talk about." Dad asked me.

"Sure." I said, walking away in the direction of where I thought the horses Dad had rented were kept.

* * *

I saw the lady sitting down at a table, and setting her book down, looking over the railing. She didn't look like the type to be going much of anywhere besides Cairo, in fact, she looked British. I walked over to her, curious to see where she was going.

"May I sit down?" I asked her, she looked up and smiled.

"Yes, of course!" She replied. "I'm Evelyn Carnahan." She held out her hand.

"I'm Sarah Daniels." I replied, taking it, and sitting down. "Where are you going?" I asked her.

"Hamenaptra." Evelyn smiled. I could feel my eyes open wide as I couldn't help but exclaim,

"Interesting! That's where I'm going!" I said. I couldn't believe that she was going out there too.

"Amazing! Who's taking you?" She asked.

"My dad, two of his friends, an Egyptologist, some diggers, and a guide" I replied. "Who are you going with?"

"My brother and a new friend of mine" Evelyn replied. "So, what are you looking for?"

"Well, I'm going just to explore the place, but everyone else is looking for treasure." I replied, then asked. "Why are you going?"

"I'm looking for a book." She said. "The book of Amun-ra." She stopped, and I took the opportunity to ask,

"The book of the living?"

"Yes! How did you know?" She seemed surprised.

"My mother taught me before she died. She's one of the reasons I actually knew enough to get my dad to let me go."

"I'm sorry." Evelyn said. "If it makes you feel any better, we're almost in the same situation. Both my parents died while exploring."

"I'm sorry." I replied.

"I know you probably hate it when people ask you this, but how old are you?" Evelyn asked.

"10, and it's okay." I replied smiling. "Don't worry, I won't ask you how old you are." I joked, and Evelyn smiled.

We continued to talk, and as the hours went by, the moon began rising higher and higher into the sky. Hearing piano music from another deck, I said.

"I'm sorry, I better go and check that my dad can still stand." I smiled, and got up from the table.

"Alright. See you later!" Evelyn replied.

"You too." I said as I walked off.


	2. Fire and Water

**Authors note: Hey y'all! Sorry about the long wait! My old laptop broke, and I couldn't get on my dad's, but I finally got a new one...so updates will be much faster from now on!**

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Chapter 2

Fire and Water

"Is somethin' burnin'?" I asked as I crinkled my nose, sniffing. I was starting to smell burning hay, and wood, but Dad, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Andrew just shook their heads.

"Naw, I don't smell nothin'." Uncle Mark sniffed the air.

"Wait." Doctor Chamberlain sniffed the air as well. "I do believe I smell something, but it could be simply that someone has been cooking, and burned something."

"Naw" I sniffed again. "Smells like wood."

"Oh?" The doctor raised his eyebrows. "Then it would appear that you have an exeptionally good nose, Miss Daniels, because all the rest of us can smell is a bit of smoke."

Suddenly the door to the stern deck burst open, and one of the sailors ran in, his hat singed and smoking slightly.

"FIRE, AND MEN ATTACKING!" He screamed, and jumped over the side.

"Feel like target practice?" Uncle Mark grinned.

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"WHOO! Nearly missed 'im!" Dad yelled as he shot at someone, one of the men who where attacking the ship. Most people would be jumping over board and swiming to shore- the smart people at any rate. Where were we? Hidden behind a bunch of abandoned trunks, Uncle Mark, Dad, and Uncle Andrew shooting, and Dr. Chamberlain and I hiding behind them. 

"Americans." I heard someone sigh heavily, and turned to look at the british man Dad, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Andrew had been playing cards with.

But then one of the desert men burst, in flames, out of a door way, running at the british man, who backed up to the railing, as Uncle Mark fired at him. Once hit, the desert man stumbled forward and ripped through the canvas railing, falling over board.

Dad was starting to get bored, as a flash of fire burst out at us, and we jumped over board, fortunatly not twisting in the railing.

The water was cold. Not freezing, like ice, cold, but cold enough to be quite uncomfortable. I swam quickly, having learned how when I was younger, from falling in the pond or creek that wound along our property so many times. I wanted to steer well clear of the horses, who I could already tell where frightened and unhappy, and thrashing about in the water with enormous hooves.

Reaching a point where I could wade out of the water, I ran out of the way as one of the diggers came out, being dragged by a large grey horse. I looked out at the people still in the water, and I could pick out Dr. Chamberlain in his ludicrus red hat, so I figured that's where Dad was.

Walking a little farther up the river shore to avoid being trampled, I sat down and took off my boots, dumping water out of them, then wrung out the skirt of my dress as well. I sat there for awhile, watching diggers, horses, and saw Evelyn and three men get out on the opposite river bank. Beni apparently noticed them too, 'cause I could hear him yelling across the river.

"O'CONNELL!! HEY!!" He screamed, and the tallest man with Evelyn turned. "It looks to me like I've got all the horses!"

"HEY BENI!" O'Connell yelled back. "Looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!"

Suddenly I had to fight down the urdge to put my boots on, walk over to Beni, and give him a nice, firm slap. I knew Dad would NOT be pleased. He couldn't stand people who didn't pay attention, and Beni was, sadly, the only one in our group who knew where we were going. I just hoped he could remember how to get there.

"Plan on movin' again real quick." I said, annoyed, as Uncle Andrew, Uncle Mark, and Dad walked up to me.

"Why?" Uncle Andrew asked.

"'Cause our idiot guide got us out on the wrong side of the river." I replied.

Dad sighed in annoyance. "I'll go talk to him."

"Scream at him, more like." Uncle Andrew muttered under his breath.

* * *

Ugh. Where we ever going to reach Hamanaptra? The most interesting thing I had seen in the past two days was my dad's horses, who I happened to be riding on as well, ears move. All it was out here was sand, sand, and more sand. 

Dad seemed to read my mind. "Don't worry, I don't think it'll be too much longer."

I turned to face the sunrise, this was the one thing I had managed to not lose interest in was the sunrise. Squinting, I could see four camels and riders in the distance. Evelyn's group had made it too.

"What are we doin'?" Dad asked as we stopped behind Beni and his camel.

"First one to the city, O'Connell." Uncle Mark called. "500 cash bucks!"


	3. Anubis' Protection

**Authors note: Hey, I know you're thinking- "Another update- FINALLY" - Yeah, I'm sorry I take forever. But updates might beable to come quicker from now on. And thank you to those who left reviews.**

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Chapter 3

Anubis' Protection

"Hello, Evelyn." I said, looking up from flicking sand into a small pile.

"Hello Sarah. Is your dad going to let you come in?" She asked, I had already told her about how dad was.

"Yes, it would be somewhat pointless for him not too, wouldn't it?" I smiled. "But I'm bored. The diggers take forever. Y'all have the right idea, in my opinion." I knew where and how Evelyn and her group where getting in, from making friends with her brother when we set up camp.

"The statues are interesting, why don't you look at those?" Evelyn suggested, and I had to admit I hadn't thought of that. "Here, I'll show you the statue of Anubis."

We walked over to a statue of a man, with a jackal's head. The hyrogliphs around it spelled out, from what I could read, prayers and depicted rituals, I walked around the pillars near the statue, studying them.

"Sarah, O'Connell says he's ready, I'm going to go in now." I heard Evelyn say behind me.

"Alright." I said, turning around. "Thanks for showing me, you're right, this is really interesting."

I studied the statue and the pillars a little longer, wishing I could grasp the full meaning of what the prayer's meant. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Sarah." It was Uncle Mark. "We can go in now- didn't you hear us? We've been hollerin' it at you five times now."

"Sorry Uncle Mark, I guess I didn't hear." I apologized. We walked back to the group, waiting at the entrance. I barely had to stoop my head to walk in. Uncle Andrew turned his flashlight on the passage floor, but I didn't really need it, I had the strange feeling of familiarity, like when you've been away from somewhere for a really long time, but when you come back you just feel a sort of, sense of direction.

"Sarah, you sure spent a long time by those pillars out there. Could you really read them?" Uncle Andrew asked as he walked behind me.

"Yes." I replied, looking around at the strangely bare walls, wondering why there where no hyrogliphs on them.

"What did they say?" Uncle Andrew asked.

"From what I could read, it was a prayer to Anubis, for protection." I said. I didn't tell them about the section on one pillar that had told of a curse, they where already a little bit edgy, the tunnel was eeirly silent, and I could hear every noise. Suddenly Dr. Chamberlain turned in front of me, into a large, high ceilinged room, and I saw the back of-

"The legs of Anubis." I murmered.

"What?" Dad asked me.

"It's the legs of Anubis, and the base of his statue." I said, turning Uncle Andrew's flashlight on the statue. But the beam of light caught my attention, to a flame of fire.

"What is that?" Dad asked. I walked toward the statue, just as Dad and everyone else pulled out their guns. I climbed up the base, keeping low on it, but I didn't need to.

"Scared the heck out of us, O'Connell." Uncle Mark said, just as it became apparent that Evelyn and her group had made it in here too.

"Likewise." O'Connell smirked.

"Hey y'all!" I said brightly from the top of the statue.

"Hey!" Uncle Andrew suddenly spoke up. "That's my tool kit!"

"No, I don't think so." O'Connell said, pointing his gun at him again.

"Okay, perhaps I was mistaken." Uncle Andrew said slowly.

"Well." Evelyn spoke up "Have a nice day, gentlemen, we've got a lot of work to be getting along with."

"Push off." Dr. Chamberlain said rudely, I scowled at him, but he didn't see. "This is _our_ dig site."

"We got here first." Evelyn narrowed her eyes. The rest of the group got into the argument, pointing their guns at eachother. I rolled my eyes, men. Typical men.

"This here statue's ours, my friend." Dad said.

"I don't see your name written on it." O'Connell said sarcastically.

I turned away, bored, and began to examine the statue from my spot on top of the base. This part of the statue seemed to be in relatively good condition. I bent over one side, so where the hyrogiphs. I didn't try to read them, I knew I wouldn't beable to looking from upside down.

"Bye Sarah." Evelyn said, and I looked up. "Come find us when you get the chance, will you?" She smiled.

"Of course." I said, smiling.

Dr.Chamberlain began to order the diggers around in Arabic. Dad looked around, apparently not noticing that I was ontop of the base.

"Sarah?"

"Yes, Dad?" I said, grinning broadly down at him.

"Get down from there, you'll hurt yourself." He said, but he couldn't help smiling. Usually I could make anyone grin if I tried, it was a trait I inherited from mom.

Climbing- or more like jumping- down, I kicked up a bit of dust as I landed on my butt. I got up and dusted myself off, looking at my dress and sighing, already it was begining to show the signs of wear.

I walked over to Dr.Chamberlain, who was cleaning off the hyrogliphs. I didn't know why he bothered, it actually seemed like you could almost read them better with dust in them, they were carved into dark rock.

"I can only make out a word or two." I spoke up, he jumped, and looked down at me, apparently he hadn't noticed me there. "What does it say?"

"It talks of Anubis, the Book of the Dead, and curses." He said shortly, turning back to dusting them off. I could tell he wanted to be left alone, but I wanted to know what it was saying, and he wasn't helping.

"I got that much." I said shortly. "I _can_ read _some_ of them, but what are the particulars of the curses?"

"I'm attempting to figure that out." He said, obviously annoyed. "Why don't you go look at something else?"

I huffed, but walked to another part of the base. I ran my finger over the edges of the different tablets of stone on the base, and ran my finger over a bump I hadn't noticed. I frowned, why would there be a random bump in the middle of a smooth stone? I ran my finger along the bump and discovered that there was an entire raised section next to one stone tablet. Following the raised portion with my finger, I noticed that the raised portion followed the edge and followed the top of the tablet.

"Y'all?" I said outloud. "I think I made have found something."

Imediatly, Dad, Uncle Mark, Uncle Andrew, and Dr. Chamberlain came behind me, looking over my shoulder.

"I'm not sure what the stone says, other than a few mentions of curses, and Anubis, which is found pretty much everywhere in this city, but look at this," I pointed at the raised portion on the edge of the stone. "It follows the stone edge all the way around, like this was cut and resealed or something."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Uncle Mark asked, walking away. Dr. Chamberlain went back to dusting off hyrogiphs. I walked away, momentarily satisfied. Uncle Mark came back with a large iron pipe, ramming at the edge of the stone.

"Let's get us some treasure!" He said gleefully. Dr. Chamberlain put out an arm to stop him.

"Careful!" He said quickly, then more slowly. "Seti was no fool. I believe we should let the diggers open it, hm?"

"Sure." Uncle Mark tossed away the pipe. "Let them open it."

I backed away from the base as Dr. Chamberlain ordered the diggers around. They pried and dug with the iron pipes, while Dr. Chamberlain kept ordering them to go faster. Suddenly I heard somthing like a small hissing noise, and then almost a roar, and the diggers backed away, screaming and holding their faces, but they were dissolving, it seemed like!

"They're MELTING!" I shrieked. The diggers kept screaming and howling and clutching their faces, until they lay still.

"What- how? How did that happen?" Uncle Andrew stuttered.

"Salt acid." I said suddenly, realizing what it must have been. "Pressurized salt acid, no wonder no one ever found whatever's in that compartment."

They all just stared, the rest of the diggers picked up the bodies and carried them away, it was just us in the chamber.

"Seti was no fool, was he?" I looked at Dr.Chamberlain. "No wonder the people prayed for protection."


	4. Sand and Hoofbeats

**Author's Note: Yes, another chapter, I hope you like it.**

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Chapter 4

Sand and Hoofbeats

I do believe I've found another oddity about myself, I enjoy sleeping on sand.

Dad was next to me, snoring softly, and on my other side, Uncle Mark and Uncle Andrew, who made no sound. Finally; they had been complaining for what seemed to be the last half hour before they actually fell asleep about the sand, that it got in their blankets and made them scratchy, and how where they going to sleep if their blankets drifted everytime someone moved. I pretended to sleep as they complained, until finally scumbing to their weary eyes, and became silent.

I still couldn't sleep, I kept thinking about the tunnels inside the City. I wanted to explore them, figure out where they led. Everyone else kept going on about treasure, or artifacts, but I just wanted to explore the City. I wanted to find out why I felt like this place was familiar, and I wanted to learn it's secrets, or some of them anyway. I debated going exploring, but then figured that if Dad got up he wouldn't be too happy.

Suddenly I could hear a pounding, like hoofbeats in the distance, getting closer. I heard a distant whinny of a horse, and jumped up and walked out of the tent. I walked to a small base of one of the pillars and stood on it, trying to see what was going on, it obviously wasn't one of our horses. Looking around I saw that O'Connell had also gotten up.

"Did you hear it?" I called softly. He nodded yes, and I walked along a hard "sand wall" made by the bases of all the pillars, trying to see if I could hear the hoofbeats better on a particular side of the City.

"YAAAHHHHH!" I spun around as I heard a loud yell back at the side of the city we had camped on. I ran and jumped onto various bases to get back quickly, I was tired of being left behind.

Suddenly someone to the side of me yelled somthing in Arabic that I didn't understand, and ran toward me with a sword. I jumped out of the way just before he struck, but he stopped, and I could understand him as he said in Arabic "Oh, it's a child."

"SARAH!" Uncle Mark yelled, and I looked down from my spot on the base. "Get inside, Sarah! Get inside!"

Why did they always try to leave me out of it? I'd sooner sit here and stare down at it all than go inside like a coward. One of the desert men had already proven to me that they didn't hurt children, so I was not about to go inside.

From my perch, I saw O'Connell fighting with another man, and saw him pull out dynamite.

"Stop! Yahlla! We will shed no more blood." The man said. "But you must leave. Leave this place or die."

And with that he jumped on his horse, and the men rode away.

Suddenly I looked near my tent and spotted a form I recongised.

"EVELYN!" I yelled, jumping down and running over, but O'Connell was already there, making sure she was okay.

"See, that proves it!" Uncle Mark said. "Old Seti's fortune's gotta be under there."

"These men are desert people." O'Connell shook his head. "They value water, not gold."

"Y'know maybe, just for tonight, we could combine forces, hm?" I wondered when Uncle Andrew had gotten the shaving cream on his face. I gave a mental shrug, maybe he woke up and was bored, like me.

"Are you okay, Evelyn?" I asked her.

"Oh yes, I'm fine." She said, unconcerned. "I was worried about _you_, though."

"I was alright. Those men don't hurt children." I said, finally relaxing. "Well, I'm gonna try to go to bed again."

"Okay, I'll do the same."

* * *

"Yes we are, but you're not coming." Dad looked down at me. 

"Why?" I asked.

"WHY? After what happened to those diggers yesterday? You're not coming with us." He said, and I could tell that was final.

"Can I still go down inside the city?" I asked. I knew from talking to O'Connell that they had uncovered a sarcophogus the other day, and I planned on digging with them.

"Yes, but stay out of trouble." He said, and followed Uncle Mark and Uncle Andrew down inside the City.

I ran over to Evelyn and her brother. They looked up at me from gathering tools.

"Hello Sarah!" Evelyn greeted. "Are you allowed to go in again?"

"Yes, just not with Dad, Uncle Mark, or Uncle Andrew." I said.

"Well, why don't you come with us?" Her brother spoke up.

"Really? Thanks!" I said, now in a much better mood. Now that the sun had risen, I was alot more at ease, then I remembered somthing, and turned to Evelyn's brother. "My name's Sarah, I never got your's though."

"Go ahead and call me Johnathan." He said, holding out his hand, and I took it.

"What do we need? Can I carry anything?" I asked.

"Um, you can carry this." He handed me a bag, it was relatively light, and I had no problem.

"And you'll want this when we go in." O'Conell came up behind me, and handed me an unlit torch.

"Thanks O'Conell." I said.

"Call me Rick." He said, matter of fact. "Being called 'O'Conell' by a kid makes me twitch."

"Thanks Rick." I smiled.

"Well, lets go." Evelyn said, and we walked over to the pillar where our rope hung down into the darkness. Dropping our bags and torches into the hole first, Rick, then Evelyn, me, then Johnathan climbed down the rope, picking up our bags as we lit our torches.

"Sarah, you'll like this, and I'm glad you came- we're opening the sarcophagus."


	5. Death is Only the Begining

**A/N: Wow, I'm actually starting a chapter with out waiting three days after I updated. To those who review with requests for quick updates: Sorry for the wait- I have a pony and a rat I have to take care of, and finals to worry about- but I do try to update when I can. Thank you very much for taking your time to review, it makes me happy...And without further ado.**

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Chapter 5

"Death is only the Begining"

My eyes opened wide as I stepped inside the room that had become Evelyn's, Johnathan's, and Rick's digging site. Right in the middle of it, an enormous stone sarcophagus sat, like it was waiting to be opened.

"Who's inside it?" I asked Evelyn.

"We don't know, see, look here" We walked up to it and read the nameplate. "He-who-shall-not-be-named."

"Facinating!" I couldn't believe what I was about to see.

Johnathan pulled out a strange looking box, pressing it on all sides, and it snapped open. He placed it ontop of what looked like some sort of lock, the edges fit perfectly, like a key. Evelyn turned the key, and the sarcophogus let go of it's hold on its own lid, a bit of sand and dust coming out of it.

"Help me." Rick motioned to Johnathan only, but Evelyn and I walked forward too, and we pushed the lid off the rest of it.

"Amazing!" I said, looking down at the dark mummy case inside.

"Perfect." Evelyn breathed.

"Johnathan, help me." Rick cut in, tossing a line of rope to Johnathan. Rick lifted up the end of the case, put the rope around it, let it down gently, and Johnathan did the same, then they both pulled on their ropes, lifting the case out of the sarcophagus, and moving it over to the wall, where they set it down.

"Are we going to open it?" I asked Evelyn.

"Of course!" She said smiling. And then, not unkindly, "You didn't think we came all this way just to haul this back to a museum did you?"

"Omph!" Rick grunted as he hauled up the head end of the mummy case, finally getting a hold of it and proping it up on the wall.

"Oh, I've dreamt about this since I was a little girl!" Evelyn said excitedly.

"You dream about dead guys?" Rick asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, look. His sacred spells have been chisled off!" Evelyn changed the subject quickly. "This man must have been condemed not only in this life but in the next."

"Yeah, I'm all tears." Johnathan said, grabbing the key and twisting it in the lock. "Let's see who's inside, shall we?"

Then, he and Rick grunting, trying to push the lid off. It gave a hissing sound, and nearly flew off- with a roar of pressure, and everyone screamed as the mummy nearly fell out in a cloud of white dust- then settled in the case again.

"Is he supposed to look like that?" Rick said, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't think so." I said, and I'm sure I looked digusted. "I've never seen anything like this."

"I've never seen a mummy look like this before." Evelyn confirmed. "He's still- still-"

"Juicy." Rick and Jhonathan said at the same time.

"Yes." Evelyn said. "Well, this man must have been buried for over three thousand years, and it looks as if he's still-"

"Decomposing." I said.

"Yes." Evelyn said.

I turned to look at the lid of the case, bending down to look at it. There were _scratch marks_ on the _inside_ of the lid.

"Hey, look at this." Rick noticed them too, and everyone bent down next to me.

"These marks were made with" Evelyn scratched her nails on the lid, "_fingernails_. This man was buried alive."

"And he left a message." I pointed at some scratches made into hyrogiphs. "I think it says _death is only the begining._ Did I get it right?"

"Yes." Evelyn said, looking troubled at the message, and back at the mummy- which for some strange reason had taken on a slightly sinister look, with the shadows casting off of it.

"So, should we call it a day?" Rick asked.

"I think we should." Johnathan said quickly.

"You guys go ahead." Evelyn said. "I'm staying here, I want to look at something."

"Can I stay too?" I asked.

"Of course." She smiled. I turned to Rick.

"Could you tell my daddy where I am if he asks?"

"Sure." Rick smiled, and he and Johnathan walked away.

"Why do you think he's still decomposing?" I asked.

"Well, buried alive has something to do with it." Evelyn said. "But I want to see what else could have happened."

"He looks slightly sinsister now, doesn't he?" I asked. Evelyn looked up at me from examining the lid.

"He?" She questioned.

"Um, the sarcophagus said _he_-who must not be named." I said quickly. For some reason, I could tell her that my mind somehow _knew_ this mummy was a man- and an evil one at that.

"True." Evelyn said. "He' sounds better than 'it' though, doesn't it?"

"Yes." I said, looking in the bottom of the case next to the mummy's feet. "Hey! Look at this!"

"Scarabs." Evelyn said, picking one up. "This would explain it!"

"Yes, it would, but-ouch." I winced. "That must have been a hard death to die."

"I know." Evelyn grimaced. "And I don't see that many. Either there _were _a bunch, and they just ate eachother when there was none of him left, or they ate him _very_ slowly."

"I wonder what he did to deserve it." I mused.

"I don't know, it doesn't say anywhere." Evelyn said. "But wait- go get me my bag, would you?"

I ran and got her bag, which was by a jackal statue across the room, and brought it back to her.

"I don't believe it- I've never seen a victim of it before." Evelyn said as she flipped through a book she took out. "But I have to check, we can't rule it- oh my." She stopped speaking- running her finger down a block of text.

"What?" I asked, half worried, half excited. "What is it?"

"This is the one. The Hom-Dai." She looked up.

"I've only heard it mentioned- never described." I said. Actually- my mother had told me about it, and I never forgot it- but I hoped that it wasn't it. That she would keep reading and find that it wasn't it.

"It's the worst of all ancient curses." Evelyn said. "I've never heard of it being preformed. It envolves a number of ancient curses- and then-" She paused "-cutting off the victims tounge. And if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise- they would bring with them the 10 plagues of Egypt."

That was the one. "Horrible." I said.

"Why don't we take some of these scarab skeletons back with us? Just to show everyone else." Evelyn said, changing the subject. I followed suit.

"Evelyn, you don't think that a scarab could have killed the warden?" Rick had told me all about the warden's death the day before. "Such as, if there was scarabs somehow kept alive down here? Maybe one attacked him or something?"

"Maybe, Sarah, maybe." Evelyn pondered, picking up a handful of the skeletons. I took a couple as well.

"Come on." Evelyn said, picking up her bag. "Let's get out of here for now- we'll feel much safer, and cheerier."


	6. Amun Ra Amun Dei

**A/N: Okay, I'm REALLY sorry about the lack of updates. I had massive writers block on this, which was fixed in about 2 seconds this afternoon. So yeah, super long chapter, but you guys deserve it, thank you for waiting. And thanks for all of your reviews!**

Amun Ra, Amun Dei

"Look what Sarah and I found!" Evelyn exclaimed as we walked up to the group by the fire. "Scarab skeletons, flesh eaters." She explained for them, as they all looked confused.

"We found them inside our, friends, coffin." I said, sitting down next to my dad.

"So," Rick stared, catching on to what we were saying "someone threw these in with our guy and then they slowly ate him alive?"

"_Very_ slowly." Evelyn and I said at the same time.

"Well, he certainly wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him, now, was he?" Jonathan said, joking.

"No, probably got a little too frisky with the Pharaoh's daughter." Rick said, and Evelyn laughed.

"Well, according to my readings, our friend was a victim of the Hom Dai, the worst of all ancient curses." She said, suddenly getting serious, "In all of my research I've never heard of this curse having actually been preformed."

"That bad, huh?" Rick asked.

I spoke up. "Well, they never used it because they feared it so."

Evelyn smiled at me, then turned back to Rick. "See, it's written that; if a victim of the Hom Dai should ever arise, he would bring with him the Ten Plagues of Egypt."

I noticed that Dad and Uncle Mark and Andrew were really quiet, usually they'd be making jokes about the mummy and talking, but I knew better than to ask. If it was really serious, I figured they would tell me later. And if they didn't, then I'd ask, and I wouldn't stop bugging them until they told me.

"Well." Jonathan said lightly, blowing off the whole 'curse' thing. "I think I'm going to go have a drink and turn in."

"Good night." The group said at the same time. I looked around, suddenly I wanted to go walking again. I knew dad would kill me if I went inside the city, but I should be fine if I just walked around outside. Besides, I hadn't gotten my chance to go exploring last night.

"I'm going for a walk." I announced, getting up. Dad looked like he was about to protest, so I said quickly. "Not inside the city, Dad, just on the outside."

"Okay." He nodded, and I walked off, putting the scarab skeletons inside my pocket. Most of the columns that still had hieroglyphics were on the other side of the city, most of the ones that were on what I'd come to think of as 'our side' of the city were worn away already. I climbed onto the 'sand wall' again, and started to walk around the city again. I didn't really know what I was looking for, but I realized soon after coming to an interesting looking column that I wouldn't be able to read anything, I hadn't brought a torch or flashlight, and there was no firelight to read by out on this side. Sighing, I climbed over a few things, just aimlessly walking now.

"Sarah!" I could hear my dad's voice alright, it was a little faint, but audible, the city wasn't _that _big. I'd have to be on the other wall not to hear him.

"Yeah dad?" I yelled back.

"Come on back, it's time for you to go to bed!" He yelled. That meant that he, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Andrew were going to bed, and he wanted me to come back so that I wouldn't sneak off into the inside of the City. Sighing, I scrambled back down a fallen column that I'd been in the process of getting over. This city really was interesting. Maybe I could get Evelyn to explore the outside of it with me one night, where no one was awake to bug us. It was nice on the other side of it, although there was a little less room, as a lot of columns and things had fallen over already, and so it wasn't very good for camping. But maybe that's why I thought it was so nice. Dad had always said that I was like Mom, happy to be around people, but loving the quiet places even better. I jumped over a partial wall that I had climbed around before, and found myself closer to the campsite than I would have guessed. I guess that there was something to be said for taking random shortcuts. I looked behind me, and saw that I had jumped over an entrance. I stared at the gaping black hole. I'd never been afraid of the dark, but for some reason I really wanted to get away from this entrance. The fact that I found it familiar, and that I felt like there was something evil inside of it was starting to really make me nervous.

"Sarah!" My dad's voice was a lot closer now, and I was grateful for something to snap my brain out of staring at the entrance.

"Right here dad!" I yelled back, and walked toward him, though I wanted to run. It seemed like forever before I felt like I was safe, I don't know why I felt threatened in the first place, it was just one of those feelings. I walked toward the firelight, and found Dad standing outside of the tent, his back to me, looking for me.

"Um, Dad?" I said, slightly loud to get his attention. He spun around, before realizing it was me.

"Sorry." He apologized when I stared at him. "This place just gives me the creeps, that's all."

"It's fine." I smiled, walking into the tent. I sat down, then decided now was the perfect time to ask questions.

"Okay." I started. "What's going on?" Dad stared at me as he sat down, and Uncle Mark and Uncle Andrew looked up from whatever they'd been doing.

"What do you mean 'what's going on?'" Uncle Mark asked.

"You guys are really jumpy, and you have been ever since Evelyn and I told you about the Hom Dai curse and the mummy we found." I said. "Why?"

"Um." Dad started, then he turned to Uncle Andrew, who was better than him and Uncle Mark at explaining things. "Do you want to tell her?"

"Sure." Uncle Andrew said, then turned to me. "See, when we found those jars earlier today, we had to open this chest."

"So there was a chest in the secret compartment?" I interrupted excitedly.

Fortunatly, Uncle Andrew is also okay with interruptions, he's a lot more patient. "Yes, and we opened it. But there was this curse on the chest, and it said that if someone was brought back to life, he would kill the people who opened the chest and regenerate, kind of, rebuild himself, with their organs and fluids."

I knew where he was going. "So, when Evelyn told you that there was a mummy with a curse on it in the city, you guys got nervous."

"Yes, but, that's not the reason. I mean, a mummy with a curse on it, that's pretty scary already, but the Doctor found this book. And he said it was the book of the dead."

I felt my eyes widening. "So, basically, if someone reads the book, and brings my little friend in there back to life, then he'll kill you, along with bringing back the Ten Plagues." This was bad, this was really bad. "Oh dear." Was all I could say. This was beyond bad, what if the doctor got the book opened, and was curious and read it, or what if Evelyn stole it, she could do it, I knew that, and read it? I knew that the book would have to be read out loud, but I didn't know how good Jonathan was with hieroglyphs, what if he couldn't read it, but wanted Evelyn to read it out loud to him?

"I need to go." I said, standing up suddenly. "I need to go warn Evelyn not to-" But I cut myself off as we heard the Doctor screaming

"NO! You must not read from the book!"

My eyes opened wider. She'd done it. She'd read it. My family was, basically, dead. We stumbled out of the tent, and stopped.

"What's that buzzing noise?" Uncle Andrew asked.

"Um, maybe" I wracked my brain for what I could remember the Bible saying about the Plagues "Um- locusts?"

"RUN!" Rick yelled, and before I could blink, Dad had grabbed me, and was running toward the inside of the city. Once we were inside, my brain started to panic. The threat wasn't outside, it was in here. I was safe, so I didn't really care where _I _was, but I didn't want Dad, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Andrew to be in here any longer than we absolutely had to. They, however, must've thought that they could out run and out hide a cursed creature, as they kept running through the hallways. Finally, they slowed down.

"Dad, I can run!" I said "Besides, we're safe now, if the locusts were any threat before."

Dad nodded, and let me down. No sooner had he done that, that we felt the ground give a violent shake. Were there earthquakes out here? I didn't think there were.

Suddenly we heard the sound of little beetles on the path ahead of us, getting closer. I panicked, realizing what was the only beetle that would probably be down here, the living version of the skeletons in my pocket.

"RUN!" I screamed turning around immediately, running past Beni and the diggers. "THOSE ARE SCARABS!"

Now they got the message. Moving immediately, they were soon right behind me. I ran right, along the path that we'd taken coming down here, thinking that they were following me. I stopped when I realized that they weren't behind me. I was just glad that I'd been holding Dad's torch, and that Uncle Mark had one with him.

Suddenly I heard moaning. Who was that? I ran along the path toward the sound. I turned the corner and-

"Uncle Andrew!" I yelled, recognizing him. What was wrong? Why was he on the ground in the first place? He turned his head toward me, and I screamed. He had no eyes!

"H-he did it." He gurgled. I realized that he had no tongue either. "He t-took my eyes, and my t-tongue."

I didn't know what else to do, and I dropped down next to him. I didn't know how to get us out of here, I wasn't strong enough to carry him on my back. But if the _thing _came back, I wasn't too much use against him either. All I had were a few scarab skeletons, a brilliant weapon that would be.

Suddenly I heard running footsteps. I picked up the torch, ready to set something on fire. A group of men turned the corner. The one that appeared to be their leader looked at us in surprise. He walked toward me, bending down next to me.

"What happened to him?" He asked urgently.

"There's this- _thing_ walking around in here." I said, realizing this wasn't a good explanation. "It's a mummy. My best friend accidentally brought it back to life. But she didn't know what she was doing. And my dad and Uncles opened up a cursed chest. And-"

"Say no more." The man obviously understood my horrible explanation. He motioned to two of the people with him, and they walked over and picked up Uncle Andrew, who, when I didn't protest, assumed that it was alright.

"Are you in any danger?" The man asked me.

"No." I said. "But my dad is, and so is my other uncle, and I don't know where they are."

"How much do you know about this Creature?" He asked.

"Only a little." I said. "That he was cursed by the Hom Dai. And that he's evil."

"I will tell you this." He said. "The Creature is afraid of cats. Because they're-"

"The Guardians of the Underworld." I interrupted. He looked at me. "Sorry." I apologized. I really need to work on not interrupting.

"Don't be." He said. "I did not expect you to know that."

"My mother told me." I said. "She was an Egyptologist."

"Where is your mother?" He asked, I supposed that he wanted to inform her about this Creature.

"She died when I was three." I said.

"I am sorry." He said, standing up, then helped me up.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ardeth Bay." He said. "What is your's?"

"Sarah. Sarah Daniels." I said, holding out my hand. He took it.

"Don't worry, Sarah, I will lead you out of here, and I assure you that we'll try and destroy this creature as soon as possible." He said.

We got out of the city, and I sat down in the sand. The locusts were gone. I guessed that these plagues didn't last as long as the one's in the Bible did.

"Sarah!" Dad screamed as he ran out of the City. He picked me up, hugging me. "I thought that you'd gotten lost."

"Um, Dad?" The men with Ardeth were pointing guns at us. He looked over my shoulder, and put me down slowly. I looked at them, where was Uncle Andrew?

"I told you to leave or die." Ardeth said. "You refused. And now you may have killed us all. For you have unleashed the creature that we have feared for more than 3,000 years."

"Relax." Rick said. "I got him."

"No moral weapon can kill this creature." Ardeth said. "He is not of this world."

Then two of the men that had taken Uncle Andrew brought him forward again. I guessed that Ardeth had wanted to get what he was saying in first.

"What did you do to him?" Uncle Mark's voice carried a dangerous undertone.

"We saved him." Ardeth said. Which, really, they had. I had just found him. And I wouldn't have been able to do anything to the Creature if he'd come back. "We saved him before he finishes you all. Yellah, Nemshi." He motioned to the men with him, and they walked away.

"We must now go on the hunt, and try to find a way to kill him." He said, walking in the direction that his men had. Rick said something to him, but I didn't care. I turned to Uncle Andrew, who's head was in my lap. I dug through my pockets, hoping to find some cloth to cover his eyes. Normally I would have ripped cloth off my dress, but it was so dirty that it would infect them the same as if we left his eyes uncovered. I pulled out a bandana that I hadn't worn yet, and it was still clean.

"Sarah, what are you-" Dad started, then realized what I was doing.

"His sockets will get infected if we leave them uncovered." I explained anyway. "We can get something cleaner when we get back to the Fort."

I sat with Uncle Andrew as everyone scrambled to pack up necessary belongings, leaving the tents and extra animals. They were already unbridled, and the horses had already run off. The warden's camel was still here, but on the other side, and we didn't bother about it.

"How are we going to make sure he doesn't fall off?" Dad asked Uncle Mark.

"Tie him to the saddle and to me." I spoke up, and they turned toward me. "I'll control his horse."

"Okay." Uncle Mark said, bringing the horse over. I got on, and they lifted Uncle Andrew on behind me. They tied his feet to the stirrups, I was too short to use them anyway, and tied a rope connecting his belt to the back of the saddle, then made one giant loop around both his and my waists.

"Something tells me that you'll need extra help." Uncle Mark said, and I realized that I was still too short to have my feet in the stirrups properly. He tied a rope to the horses bridle, getting on his, Dad's horse was right behind us.

"Is he going to be alright?" Rick asked from on top of his camel.

"Yes." Uncle Mark replied, kicking his horse forward, Uncle Andrew's horse walked forward too.

"Let's go then."

* * *


	7. He's Here

**A/N: Okay, before you review mentioning this, yes I know that it was poor editing on my part in the last chapter. I accidently forgot to type part of one of Ardeth's lines, and I said that Sarah's mom died when she was three, not five as it says in the first chapter. I'm sorry about that, and if you could just ignore it, that would be lovely. **

* * *

Chapter 7

"He's Here"

I sighed in relief as we approached the Fort. Now we could get Uncle Andrew some help, with cleaning out his sockets and mouth, and numbing the pain, at least. Even with the cloth, his eye sockets still could have gotten infected, there'd been a lot of sand blowing around. As we got inside the fort, Uncle Mark and Dad helped us dismount. Uncle Andrew and I sat down on a bench, as Uncle Mark and Dad led the horses away to a stable, and went to go find where a doctor was. We didn't want Uncle Andrew to have to walk around all over the Fort, it was easier, and faster, just to wait while they found one.

"Sarah? Sarah, where are you?" Without his tongue, it sounded like Sar-ah, with long a's and r's, but I didn't care. I put my hand on his arm.

"Right here." I said.

"Last night." He began, starting to tell me the story. "When we were running through the City, I moved my foot funny, and I tripped. I guess no one heard me, the diggers didn't understand me, and your dad and Henderson were running too fast, I guess. I'd lost my glasses, and I was trying to find them. I guess I was kind of panicking, you know how normally I'll just sweep my arms from my sides to my head, and wait until it hit's them? Well, I kept moving my hands around, and I got even more scared when I couldn't find them, I think it was because I kept thinking that that mummy was going to come up behind me any second. I heard someone behind me, it was that little weasel-y guide, Beni. He was yelling something, but I couldn't make it out. Then, do you know what he did? He stepped on my glasses. I was asking him to help me find my glasses, but he ignored me, and I heard the glass crack at the same time I saw his foot in the side of my vision, then, you'd think that he would have at least helped me stand, right? No, he grabbed my torch, I'd dropped it when I tripped, and ran off, screaming."

"If I ever see that dirty rat again" I said "I'll kill him."

"He didn't come with us, did he? He must've gotten killed by that mummy." Uncle Andrew mused. "I don't think you want to hear about the next part."

"You mean, when the mummy" I trailed off, not wanting to say 'ripped out your eyes and tongue.'

"Yes." Uncle Andrew said. "But there's not much to tell, I just remember seeing his face, or rather, what I could see, I only saw this big black thing in the shape of a head, and then all I remember is pain." He shuddered.

"You don't need to say anything if it bothers you." I said.

We sat there in silence for a little while. A few people past us, some of them minding their own business, only glancing at us for a second or two, but others openly stared at us, stopping. One woman looked like she was about to say something, but I cut her off with a glare. Uncle Andrew and I didn't need to be explaining anything to someone who had no business knowing it. Looking surprised, she walked away.

"What do you think's going to happen to me?" Uncle Andrew asked suddenly.

"We're going to get you to a doctor, and he's going to do, something, I don't know what." I said. "Then we're going to that apartment that we rented out before we left, oh, and I found out from Evelyn that it was their group that rented out the other side of it." The apartments had shared a living room, and had several bedrooms. We'd learned from the hotel manager that there was someone who was also using it primarily for holding luggage, and a cat, and were willing to let them use the other side. While talking to Evelyn, I'd found out, randomly, that it was her, Rick, and Jonathan that we shared the apartment with.

"And after that?" Uncle Andrew asked. "What's going to happen when we start heading home?"

"We'll get on a boat and go home. This doctor will probably give you a cane so you can walk more confidently." I said.

"But what about after we get home?" Either Uncle Andrew was unusually paranoid, or he just wanted some reassurance that he wouldn't be left somewhere to just sit all day.

"Well, dad has a little filly that's about three years old." I said. "I'll start training her, to be extra careful and such, and then you can ride around with me all day!"

He smiled, and I knew he just wanted to talk, to take his mind off things. "But what about school?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." I said lightly. "I already know I'm going to be an Egyptologist anyway. And with those jars y'all found, and the cows and horses and everything else had babies before we left, and dad will auction them off when they're ready to go, and so there will be enough money for me to just stay at home, and learn only the things I need to learn, and so I won't have to worry about school, and we can just ride around all day."

Uncle Andrew smiled, then frowned a little and looked slightly behind him. "Who's coming?" He asked.

I looked behind me, Uncle Mark and Dad walking toward us. "It's just Uncle Mark and Dad." I said.

He relaxed. "Oh, okay, good." Then he smiled. "I'm sorry for being so paranoid, I suppose I'll get used to it, all of it, especially my hearing being so good, it's really strange."

"Really, your hearing's changed?" I asked. I didn't know that would happen.

"Yes." Uncle Andrew said. "Right now I can hear your breathing perfectly, and that's how I knew that someone was coming up behind us. And I can feel really faint vibrations whenever something goes by. Really faint ones, but still, they're there."

"Wow." Was all I could say as Uncle Mark and Dad stood by the bench we were sitting on.

Uncle Mark put a hand on Uncle Andrew's arm, and Uncle Andrew turned to face him.

"Okay, we found a doctor, and he's not too far away." Uncle Mark said. I stood up, helping Uncle Andrew.

"Do you need to hang on to our shoulders?" Dad asked.

"No." Uncle Andrew said. "If Sarah will just hold my arm then I think I can make it."

I held onto his arm, and he took a few shaky steps forward. Dad walked beside us, and Uncle Mark walked right behind us, ready to help if Uncle Andrew needed it.

Eventually we got to the doctor's, it was slow going, and Uncle Andrew apologized for being so slow over and over again, despite our constant telling him that it wasn't his fault.

Walking inside, the doctor met us. He was a short man, shorter than Dad, with a red face and lightening, balding, hair, and small reading glasses.

"Bring him in here." He said, I didn't know if his voice was small naturally, or if he was nervous, or if it was just a product of working here for a long period of time.

I steered Uncle Andrew into an examination room, and guided him to a chair.

"Do you want me to take off the bandana?" I asked the doctor.

"Yes, please." He replied. I undid the bandana from where I had tied it in the back of Uncle Andrew's head. I heard the doctor wince, breathing in sharply.

"I won't ask any questions about where this happened." He said, taking a cotton cloth and pouring some sort of antiseptic on it. He set it down, and pulled up a chair in front of Uncle Andrew, picking up the cloth again.

"Young man, may I" He started to ask. Uncle Andrew realized what he was asking, and said, before he could finish

"Yes" he gurgled, and the doctor frowned in surprise.

"What else is wrong?" The doctor asked, knowing that something else must be the matter.

Reluctantly, Uncle Andrew opened his mouth, and the doctor shined a small light into it, leaning forward slightly. As soon as he'd looked, however, he immediately straightened up, looking like he might be sick.

"I'll take care of that in a minute." He finally said after a few seconds. Then he gently put the antiseptic soaked cloth into one of Uncle Andrew's eye sockets, taking a small metal stick, and used it to move the cloth around, cleaning it. Taking it out, he threw the cloth away, and did the same with another one.

"It's obvious that they have been gouged, but it was almost like whoever it was knew exactly how to do it, there's next to no mess." The doctor muttered, almost to himself. Throwing away that cloth, he took a roll of bandaging cloth, and wound it around Uncle Andrew's head, covering his eyes.

"Now, is that too tight or too loose?" He asked.

"No." Uncle Andrew gurgled. The doctor got up, moved the chair, and walked over to a small desk. He got a bowl out from the cabinet, along with a cup, and poured water in the cup, along with salt.

"Now, young man, come over here." He said. I got up to help Uncle Andrew, and guided him over to the table.

"Don't swallow this." The doctor handed him the cup. "Swish it around in your mouth, then spit it out into the bowl." Uncle Andrew felt for the bowl with his hand before he drank the water, swishing it around as he was told, then, putting the cup down, felt for the bowl again, and lowered his head to it, spitting out the water.

"There." The doctor said. "That should wash out anything that might be in your mouth, and I would advise you to be careful when you eat or drink anything. Sadly, I can't do anymore than this. Once or twice a day, you might fill a cup with water and put salt in it, and do the same thing you just did, to keep the under part of your mouth clean from infection. It is not used to being exposed, and it will feel very odd for awhile."

He opened a door, and stepped inside what appeared to be a closet. When he came out again, he carried a cane.

"Now" he handed the cane to Uncle Andrew, who grasped it firmly "I want you to practice walking down the hallway with this before you leave."

We watched Uncle Andrew learn to use his new cane. At first he wasn't quite sure what to do, but the doctor moved his wrist for him and, in a way, showed him how to use it, he learned quickly, and soon we were ready to go. Dad paid the doctor, and we left, and were happy to see Uncle Andrew walking a little more confidently than before. He was not nearly so slow, and we only had to catch him once when we didn't see a loose stone in the middle of the road. We soon made it back to the apartment, and helped Uncle Andrew up the stairs, but he figured out how to use the cane so that he could tell where the stair was, and how high it was, and was soon walking at a steady pace up the stairs.

When we got in the apartment, we found Jonathan about ready to leave it.

"Hello chaps. And Sarah." He smiled, then looked behind him. "I'd advise you to keep as far away from them as possible, and dodge the flying objects." He laughed, then apologized, having temporarily forgotten that Uncle Andrew couldn't see anything, much less dodge.

I knew he was joking about dodging flying objects, but the point was, that as soon as we entered, we heard a shouting match between Rick and Evelyn in her bedroom.

"My job was to take you out there and to _bring you back_." We heard snatches of something Rick was saying, and moved into another living room.

"Sarah." Dad said. "We're going to help Burns get settled in, do you think you could get him something to drink?"

"Yes." I said, walking out of the room, and down the hall, to where I knew there was a small kitchen. I walked in, and saw a motherly, slightly older maid cleaning.

"Do you need anything, dear?" She asked.

"Yes please, m'am." I said. "Can I get a pot of tea for my uncle?"

"Of course" She smiled. As it so happened, a pot of tea that was on the stove began to whistle, and she took it off, pouring it into a teapot, and found a few teacups and saucers.

"Now, can you manage a tray, dear, or would you like me to help you?" She asked, finding a silver tray and putting the tea pot, cups, and saucers onto it.

"I think I can manage." I smiled. "Thank you very much m'am." Mom had always taught me to be polite to _everyone_, and you never knew what was going on in that person's life, and you might be making them a _lot _happier, just by being nice and polite. Sometimes I 'forgot' about that, but it was usually special cases like Beni when that happened.

She smiled again. "You're welcome, dear." She said, handing me the tray, which, I was surprised to find, was not heavy. I walked back to the apartments, carrying the tray, and found Uncle Andrew sitting in a chair next to a fire and a table. He was in a robe now, and I understood why Dad had wanted me to leave.

"Thanks Sarah." Uncle Andrew said as I set down the tray and poured some tea for him.

"Are you sure you don't mind us going down to the" Dad started to ask, but Uncle Andrew stopped him.

"It's fine." He said, and he certainly did seem a lot more comfortable now. "Go ahead, I'm fine. I won't go anywhere." He laughed, and Dad and Uncle Mark seemed to lighten up.

"Alright. Don't light anything on fire." Uncle Mark laughed, and I was reminded of the time when I was younger, before Mom died, when Uncle Mark, Dad, and Uncle Andrew had been clowning around with a burning stick, and had lit what would have been our Christmas tree on fire.

"Don't worry." Uncle Andrew laughed. We said goodbye, and closed the door for him. We walked down the stairs into the bar, I, of course, couldn't drink anything, but I figured that Jonathan was probably down there, I could talk to him.

But as soon as we stepped in the door, I noticed that Dad's lightened mood had come crashing right back down to where it had been. Uncle Mark was a little happier, but his mood had sunk a little too. I guess we couldn't really help it. It was easy to get depressed when the friend not directly responsible for the depression wasn't around to make sure you were happy. We walked toward the bar, and found Jonathan and Rick sitting there.

"Well, we're all packed up, but the boat doesn't leave until tomorrow." Uncle Mark said, leaning on the counter next to Jonathan. Dad sat next to Rick, and pointed at a bottle of whiskey, which the bartender handed him a shot of. I sat next to him, to make sure he didn't drink too much.

"Tail set firmly between your legs, I see." Jonathan said.

"Yeah," Uncle Mark said as Jonathan poured him some whiskey. "You can talk, you don't have some sacred walking corpse after ya."

Rick turned to Dad. "So, uh, how's your friend?" He asked.

"He had his eyes and his tongue ripped out." Dad replied bitterly. "How would you be?" He walked off. I moved over a seat.

"Sorry about Dad." I apologized to Rick. "He just takes things kinda hard. And Uncle Andrew was mom's brother, not to mention one of his best friends since grade school."

"Oh." Rick said, understanding. "Are you alright, though?"

"I've felt better." I admitted. "But I've been talking to Uncle Andrew about it when Dad and Uncle Mark weren't around, and he won't let them talk about it. He always changes the subject." I remembered the walk home, when they'd tried, but Uncle Andrew would manage to change the subject every time.

"Hey" Uncle Mark called our attention. "A group of people just left, let's go sit down over there." He pointed to a table on another wall.

We moved over, sitting down next to a few other men, who knew English, and they began talking to us. Jonathan made some toast, and they all drank to it, but suddenly spat it out.

"What was that?" Uncle Mark said, wiping a drop of it off of his chin, where it had stuck to his beginnings of beard. "It tasted just like-"

"Blood." Rick dropped his shot glass, standing up. I looked over, and gasped. The fountain that we were sitting next to was now a deep red, blood red.

"He's here." Rick said, and our eyes opened wide.


	8. Race Against Time

Chapter 8

Race Against Time

We followed Rick out of the bar, running into Dad along the way, who had been sitting on a bench outside.

"What's wrong?" He asked, following us.

"He's here." Uncle Mark replied, and Dad needed no further explanation. We ran through the street, towards the apartment.

"Evelyn!" Rick suddenly called. "Oh Evelyn!"

"Oh, so you're still here." Evelyn replied, smiling, but with a slight tone in her voice.

"Yeah, uh, we've got problems." Rick said. Suddenly we heard a whistling noise, like something moving very quickly through the air, and I turned, nearly screaming. There were huge balls of fire raining down from the sky. I'd read about this in the Bible, but my mind had never been able to really grasp what it would look like, now I had a vague idea of what it felt like to live back then, they must've been drowning in fear, I wasn't, yet, but I had a feeling that this wasn't the worst.

"Big problems." I stated, staring at the fire-balls.

We ran towards the stairs, just as Beni was coming down. Suddenly I wanted to hurt him, badly, which was different, as I'd never meant to hurt anyone badly in my whole life. But right now, I wanted him to die. I wasn't sure if _I _really wanted to actually kill him, but something in my head wanted to punish him, in some way, for doing this to Uncle Andrew. I knew he wasn't directly responsible, but it was a lot easier to make him cry than to make a 3000 year-old evil being scream in pain, or something.

I wanted to cry as we heard a roar from upstairs, and I realized where Beni had been. They'd found Uncle Andrew. We raced up the stairs, bursting through the door of the apartment.

"No." I said softly as we saw Uncle Andrew, sitting in his chair, dead. Worse than just dead. Not dead like you come home from school and find a rabbit that died of old age on the porch, but he looked like he'd been mummified in about 4 seconds. The skin that we could see was a dark green, and stretched across his bones, and what was left of his muscles. I felt myself sinking to the ground. I registered that the mummy was still there, he was impossible not to notice, but I just sat there on the ground. How could this be happening? This kind of thing didn't happen to people like me. My dad had had enough misery in his life already with mom being gone. But then, her dying wasn't supposed to happen to people like me either. And Uncle Andrew and I had had it worked out already. Roughly, yes, but we at least had a plan. This wasn't supposed to happen, it was supposed to be alright after this. I registered that someone was halfway on top of me, as there was a lot of pressure on my legs, and then the pressure was gone, but I didn't respond.

Suddenly I felt something furry brush over my face, a cat. Then my brain just clicked. The mummy was afraid of cats! I grabbed the cat, although I kinda dived for it, and I stumbled as I picked it up, and it jumped out of my arms onto the piano, meowing in protest.

I looked at the mummy. I couldn't believe it. He screamed. He actually screamed! Terrified, he turned into a dust tornado, whirling out the door. For some reason I felt like laughing, he actually screamed, just because of the cat! It had been a low scream, but still, it counted as a scream. I reached down and petted the cat in apology for grabbing her like that, and she meowed and rubbed against my legs in forgiveness.

"Sarah." Dad and Henderson were standing next to Uncle Andrew's chair. "Sarah, honey, go play with the cat for a minute. Henderson and I have to do something first." Then he turned to Rick and said. "We'll be ready to leave in a few minutes."

I picked up the little white cat and walked into the other room, Evelyn walking behind me. I didn't know what they were doing, but later I found out that they were calling someone to have Uncle Andrew's body sailed back to Texas.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked Evelyn as I petted the cat.

"Were going to go see a, colleague, or boss, I suppose you could call him, of mine." Evelyn answered. "I think he should be able to give us some answers on our mummy."

"Okay." I smiled a little bit. Evelyn hugged me.

"It'll all turn out okay in the end." She reassured me.

A few minutes later we started to walk to the museum. It wasn't a very long walk, and Evelyn talked to all of us, although mostly to Rick, along the way. I walked between Dad and Uncle Mark, holding their hands, something I hadn't done since I was four, when Dad, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Andrew had taken me to Dallas for the first time, and insisted on holding my hands so I wouldn't get separated from them. We got inside of the museum, and they didn't drop my hands, and I didn't try to let go. Mom had told me that sometimes, when you're depressed and sad, it helps just to hold someone's hand. I figured that that's just what they were needing. Evelyn led us through the museum, turning down seemingly random hallways until I was positive that I wouldn't be able to find my way out again without her.

"Well, he does seem to like Evy." Jonathan said.

"Yeah, what's that about?" Rick asked.

"And what's this guy want, anyway?" Uncle Mark spoke up.

"There's only one person I know who could possibly give us any answers." Evelyn replied. As she rounded the corner with us, she exclaimed "YOU?"

The person that this was directed at was Ardeth. There was an older, slightly shorter man, wearing a red hat similar to that weird one that the Doctor always wore, but she seemed to know him.

"Miss Carnahan." He said by way of greeting. "Gentlemen." I noticed that Rick, Jonathan, Uncle Mark, and Dad had pulled out their guns, again, I sighed, typical men.

"And hello, young lady." He addressed me. I smiled just a little bit, to show that I'd heard him, and gave a small smile to Ardeth, and he looked at me, not saying anything.

"What is _he _doing here?" Evelyn asked.

"Do you really want to know, or would you prefer to just, shoot us?" He asked. The men gave in, and put away their guns. The older man motioned for us to sit down.

"Evelyn, whose the older one?" I whispered quickly.

"That's the Curator. Dr. Bey." She whispered back. I nodded, and sat down on the floor, next to Uncle Mark, who was sitting in a chair.

"Now." Dr. Bey began. "We are part of an ancient, secret, society. For three thousand years we have guarded the City of the Dead." He paused for breath. "We were sworn at manhood to do any and all we could to stop the high priest Imhotep from being reborn into this world."

"And now because of you, we have failed." Ardeth said, a slightly acidic undertone in his voice, directed at Evelyn.

"And you think all this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Evelyn shot back.

"To stop this creature, let me think" Dr. Bey said, then he and Ardeth said at the same time "YES!"

Evelyn shook her head and walked towards a chair, but she didn't sit down.

"Question." Rick spoke up from the chair he was sitting in. "Why doesn't he like cats?"

For once I didn't feel useless. "Because cats are the guardians of the underworld!" I spoke up, Uncle Mark looked at me.

"Yes." Dr. Bey actually gave me a small smile, and I thought I could see the ghost of one on Ardeth's face too. Then they were serious again. "He will fear them until he is fully regenerated."

"And then he will fear nothing." Ardeth snapped.

"Yeah." Dad said, sounding slightly hysterical. "And you wanna know how he gets himself fully regenerated?"

"By killin' everyone who opened that chest." Uncle Mark said, somewhat quietly

"And suckin' 'em dry! That's how!" Dad yelled.

Evelyn wisely decided to switch the subject from Imhotep regenerating. "When I saw him alive at Hamunaptra, he called me 'Anck-su-namun'." She said.

I saw Ardeth and Dr. Bey turn to each other. And something in my mind clicked as she said the name. It was familiar, but I couldn't place it. Maybe it was something mom had told me.

"And now, when Mr. Burns was killed, he, he tried to kiss me." Evelyn said.

"It was for his love of Anck-su-namun that he was cursed." Dr. Bey said, looking at Ardeth. "Apparently sill, after 3000 years"

"He is still in love with her." Ardeth finished.

"Well that's all very romantic, but what's it got to do with me?" Evelyn asked.

Ardeth and Dr. Bey gave no inclination that they had heard her. Ardeth was still turned to Dr. Bey. "Perhaps he will once again try and raise her from the dead."

"And it appears he has already chosen his human sacrifice." Dr. Bey and Ardeth both turned to look at Evelyn, who gulped.

Jonathan winced. "Bad luck old mum."

"On the contrary." Dr. Bey said, standing. "It may just give us the time we need to kill the Creature."

Ardeth looked up at the skylight. It was getting darker, a solar eclipse. "And we will need all the help we can get, his powers are growing."

Apparently Jonathan and I remembered the same Bible verse at the same time, because we said, simultaneously, "And he stretched his hand toward the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the land of Egypt."


	9. Desperation

**A/N: Yes, I know it's been forever, and y'all are probably planning on throwing something heavy at me the next time I take this long. I'm sorry, I just had a little bit of writer's block, but I'm alright now, so...without further ado, chapter 9**

Chapter 9

Desperation

I breathed a sigh of relief as we came to the apartments. I knew that we weren't safe by any means, but it felt a lot safer to be in here than on the streets, especially for Dad and Uncle Mark.

"What are we gonna do?" Dad asked Rick and Evelyn as we climbed the stairs to the apartment.

"Well" Evelyn replied "we need to come up with a plan."

"And fast." I said, clinging on to Dad's and Uncle Mark's hands. Dad looked down at me, and leaned down and picked me up, and I clung onto his neck like I used to do with Mom when we'd go exploring somewhere. I turned my head toward Uncle Mark, and he looked at Dad, concerned.

"Well, we need to start somewhere." Jonathan spoke up as we got inside the room, and everyone sat down. "Aside from keeping as many people as possible from dieing, what's our main goal here?"

"Well" Evelyn started "first we must stop him from regenerating, so, who opened that chest?"

"Well, there was me and Daniels here." Uncle Mark said. "Oh, and Burns, of course."

"And that Egyptologist feller." Dad's voice sounded loud in my ears, probably because I was leaning against his chest, and my other ear was near his mouth.

"What about my buddy Beni?" Rick asked.

"Naw, he scramed out of there before we opened the dang thing." Dad said.

"Yeah, he was the smart one." Uncle Mark chuckled.

"Yeah, sounds like Beni." Rick rolled his eyes.

"Well, we must find the Egyptologist and bring him back to safety before the Creature can get to him." Evelyn said. I was glad she thought of him, and I felt bad, because I hadn't paid him any never mind since we got to Hamunaptra. I knew that he was annoying, but I still didn't want him to die. I knew, from hearing him talk on the barge, that he had a wife at home. We couldn't just let him fend for himself, it wasn't right.

Dad stood up suddenly, I figured his legs must've fallen asleep, even though I wasn't real heavy. Sure enough, he walked around a little bit.

"If I'm too heavy you can put me down." I mumbled.

"Thanks sweetheart." He said, gently setting me down.

"They stay here." Rick pointed at me and Evelyn. "You three come with me."

Dad and Uncle Mark started to protest, and I didn't blame them, but they were drowned out by Evelyn's protests. I would have spoken up too, but I didn't want to go, I was a little concerned for Dad and Uncle Mark.

I almost laughed when Rick rolled his eyes, and picked up Evelyn, swinging her over his shoulder, and carrying her into her bedroom, but I wisely kept my mouth shut. I knew that Rick was just really concerned, and was just getting his point across.

I almost did open my mouth, though, when he grabbed Dad by his shirt. "This door doesn't open, she doesn't come out, and no one goes in. Got it?" He growled.

"Yeah." Dad replied quickly.

Rick turned his head to Uncle Mark, who nodded. "Yeah."

He turned to me. "Promise, Sarah?"

"Yeah." I nodded. Rick turned, and handed the key to Dad, and walked to the door.

"Let's go, Jonathan." He said without looking back. When Jonathan gave a feeble start of protest he yelled "Now!"

"Uh, right, we're just gonna go and rescue the Egyptologist." Jonathan squeaked as he followed Rick out the door, closing it behind him.

"Right, we're honestly gonna go somewhere." Uncle Mark rolled his eyes. Dad straightened his shirt, and sat down, Uncle Mark sitting too. I walked in the other room, where our luggage was, and rummaged through my tiny suitcase, grateful I hadn't taken my pencil and paper on the boat. I finally found them, and, after grabbing a hardback book off a shelf, walked back in the den, sitting on the floor next to dad's chair.

"Which one's that?" Dad asked, leaning over the arm of his chair, looking down at my drawing of one of our horses.

"Cecil." I replied, finishing the shading. Cecil had been mom's horse, and now I rode him most of the time. He was a beautiful draft/quarter horse cross, milky brown, with a large star on his forehead, the top of which was nearly hidden by his long black mane. He was huge, but gentle, and I loved him.

"And the one at the top is Cody?" Uncle Mark asked, leaning over his armrest to see.

"Yup." I replied as I finished Cecil's legs. "How'd you guess?"

"The masses of mud on his legs gave it away." Uncle Mark grinned. Cody was his horse, and usually went splashing in the creek when it was hot, which was everyday, and when we wanted to take him somewhere, it took nearly an hour to clean him up. Normally Cody was a beautiful chestnut, with a narrow stripe down his nose. He and Uncle Mark went together perfectly, and Cody would, usually, behave for him, but almost no one else.

"I drew him before we fed them dinner the night before we left." I replied. Cody's legs had been caked with mud then.

"You could've drawn him in the middle of the day for all anyone else knows." Dad smiled. "Of course, if you drew him in the middle of the day, you would've had to draw him clean, and Henderson covered in mud!" He laughed.

Uncle Mark laughed too, and grabbed a pillow from the chair, flinging it at him. It was heavier than expected, and dropped mid-flight, hitting me.

"Hey!" I laughed, abandoning my drawings and pencil, flinging it back at him, hitting him in the face, but nearly toppled over as I got hit in the back of the head at the same time.

"Got ya." Dad laughed, and I grabbed the pillow and flung it at him. Pretty soon a pillow war was going full-fledged. I was a little worried that we'd wake up Evelyn, who'd surely gone to sleep by now, but I figured that we'd know it if we did.

But we all stopped, mid-throw, when we heard a blood-curling scream from the window.

"Dr. Chamberlain." I breathed, and we ran to the window. But there was no one there, the scream must've carried from a block or so over.

Knowing there was absolutely nothing we could do, and it would be pointless to try, we walked back to our chairs and sat down, saying nothing.

* * *


	10. Breaking Apart

**A/N: Okay, another update. I think this story should be finishing up soon. I AM planning a sequel, in fact I'm already started on it, so for those who are disappointed in my lack of telling you why exactly Sarah is getting random familar feelings...I'll get this story done and the sequel out hopefully by the end of May/early June.**

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Chapter 10

Breaking Apart

"To hell with this!" Dad growled. He was bored, very bored. It had been over an hour since Rick and Jonathan had left. "I'm going down stairs to get me a drink," he turned to Uncle Mark "you want something?"

"Dad, I don't know if that's a good idea." I said, stretching from where I'd been sleeping in his chair.

"It'll be fine, Sarah." Dad reassured me, quickly. I figured that he would be alright, besides, I could tell he really needed to get out of the room. "I'll be down and back before you know it." He turned to Uncle Mark again. "So, do you want something?"

"Yeah." Uncle Mark said. "Get me a glass of bourbon."

"Okay." Dad replied.

"And a shot of bourbon." Uncle Mark said again after thinking.

"Okay, okay." Dad shook his head, and I'd forgotten that the only thing Uncle Mark seemed to drink was either whiskey or bourbon.

"And a bourbon chaser!" Uncle Mark called after him. Getting up to close the door when dad didn't shut it.

"Yeah, yeah! I'll get you your dang bourbon!" Dad called back from the stairway.

"Don't worry about the door." Uncle Mark muttered as he closed it.

"Uncle Mark." I started.

"Yeah, Sarah?" He turned.

"You're not gonna drink as much as you did on the Fourth of July, are you?" I asked, remembering last year, when there'd been a neighborhood party at our ranch, and he'd drunk so much that he climbed on top of the barn and sung, or more like screamed, the National Anthem, off key, for an hour before we could get him down. I was kinda worried about him; our nerves were starting to strain.

He busted out laughing. "No, Sarah! Don't worry about it."

I grinned. "I won't, don't worry."

"Boy I'll never do that again!" Uncle Mark laughed. "Worst hangover of my _life_." He paused, like he was thinking about something, or remembering things.

I sat up in the chair. "I can't wait to get home."

"Neither can I." Uncle Mark shook his head, took out his pistol, and started twirling it. "Sarah, watch this, it took me a week, back when I was learning how to do it, to get it right without dropping it."

"I remember." I said as I watched him twirl it, point it at the jar, twirl some more, and put it away. "Mom was always telling you not to play with guns at the dinner table."

He laughed. "I remember that." He sighed. "Glory, I miss your mother. She was a real sweet lady."

"I miss her too." I said. "I remember when we'd go on digs, and she'd always find a digger who didn't really have anyone with him, and treat him like her best friend the entire time. I still get letters from some of them who remember me being there, sometimes."

"Yeah, she was always doing that all through school." Uncle Mark said. "Elementary, junior high, high school, even college."

Suddenly we heard a sort of howl, from the window, and Uncle Mark whipped out his gun, cocking it.

"Sarah, stay behind me." He whispered. I moved off the chair, and he took my hand, pulling me behind him.

"Do you think it's Imhotep?" I asked.

"I don't know." Uncle Mark said, moving toward the window. He looked out it. "Could be just the wind. The alley kind of creates a sort of wind tunnel. Could have made the wind sound louder." He un-cocked his gun, putting it back in its holster.

I walked back toward the chair, when I was thrown off my feet by Uncle Mark ramming into me; he'd been blown backwards. Then a loud howl filled the room, and I started to panic.

"Uncle Mark!" I screamed, trying to grab his hand. He screamed and flailed, and I couldn't reach him, and every time he tried to grab something, he knocked me back down on the floor.

"Leave him alone!" I screamed at the sand that I knew was Imhotep. I tried again to grab Uncle Mark's hand, arm, anything, when he stopped moving, staying as stiff as a board.

"No!" I screamed, and started crying. I ran toward the door and threw it open, running down the stairs, then tripped and rolled down them. "Daddy!" I screamed when I picked myself up.

"Sarah!" Rick and Jonathan ran toward me. Rick kneeled next to me and hugged me. I couldn't help it, I started crying harder.

"What happened?" Jonathan asked.

"I-Imhotep." I blubbered, tears running down my cheeks. "He k-killed Uncle M-Mark!"

I felt Rick stiffen. "Where's Daniels? I mean, where's your dad?"

"He went to get a drink." I sobbed, trying to stop crying so I could talk. "Before Imhotep showed up."

"Listen, Sarah, Jonathan and I have to go get Evelyn, can you go find your dad?" Rick asked.

I nodded, and ran toward the direction of the bar. It wasn't crowded, but from the mess, it looked like it had been before. Dad was just coming away from the counter, holding a glass of bourbon in his hand. For some reason I started crying again, maybe because it reminded me of Uncle Mark, although I was beginning to cry at a lot lately.

"Sarah!" Dad cried when he saw me. He ran toward me. "What's the matter? What's going on? Where's Henderson?" He looked around, as if expecting to see him behind me. When he didn't he looked down at me again.

I grabbed onto his waist, crying. "I-Imhotep." I choked out.

He knew what that meant. I heard the glass shatter on the ground. "Come on, Sarah!" He grabbed my hand and ran out of the bar, toward the stairs, then flew up them. Finally getting to the top, we nearly ran smack into Rick and Jonathan, who were coming out the door with Evelyn.

Dad didn't have to ask. He walked into the room, gripping my hand. I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't want to see Uncle Mark's body. Uncle Andrew's was already burned into my brain. I couldn't look, I couldn't look.

"Oh glory!" Dad dropped on his knees to the floor. Then I couldn't help it, my eyes flew open, and then I had to try not to scream. Dad wrapped his arms around me and hugged me, and I started crying all over again, and I could hear him trying to cover up his own sobs. He hugged me tighter and I could feel tear drops on the top of my head. Eventually his grip loosened, and I leaned back, tears still flowing from my eyes, his too. We looked at each other, and he kind of nodded, and so did I. I had a feeling that we both were thinking the same thing, we were gonna try not to cry anymore. Mom had always said that there was a time to mourn, and a time to come up with a plan, and I had a feeling that this was one of those times.

A hand appeared on Dad's shoulder, it was Rick. They spoke in low voices, that even I couldn't hear. Evelyn walked over and took my hand, and I took it, standing up. She led me away from Dad and out the door. Looking back, I saw Dad and Rick picking up Uncle Mark's body and carrying it into the other room, where Uncle Andrew was.

"What are we gonna do?" I asked Evelyn as she handed me a handkerchief from Jonathan's coat pocket. I took it and wiped my eyes.

"We're going to pay another visit to Dr. Bey, and Ardeth at the Museum." Evelyn said. "I think I can find a way to kill Imhotep, I figured it out when I was asleep."

For a few moments I felt elated. Dad would be safe. It didn't lift my spirits completely, but it was a hope.

"Can I tell Dad?" I asked.

"Of course, Sarah." Evelyn said, and I turned toward Dad, who was coming out of the door with Rick.

"Dad," I started as he picked me up. "Evelyn says she just figured out a way to kill Imhotep."

Dad turned toward Evelyn, slightly in a daze. "Really?"

"Yes." Evelyn replied. "We need to go to the Museum again."

And with that we walked down the stairs, Dad still carrying me. I leaned my head on his shoulder as he got down the last of the stairs, and walked towards Jonathan's car. Dad, while still holding me, jumped onto the trunk and swung his legs around and sat down in the back seat, moving me to his lap. Evelyn sat in the back with us, and, once everyone was inside, Jonathan started the car, and we drove towards the museum. I looked around anxiously. Ardeth had told us that his powers would grow quickly, and we had no idea what he could do now.


	11. Gone

**A/N: Hey y'all, sorry about the delay! I know you are probably furious with me for waiting so long. But I had band auditions along with massive writers block.**

**Oh, and I know it might make your eyes bleed, but you can kinda tell where they are in the movie in the last paragraph, so it would be a good idea to read it... it is readable, I'm serious. **

* * *

Chapter 11

Gone

I didn't pay attention to what Evelyn was saying as I gripped my Dad's neck as he carried me up the stairs. I knew that she was talking about the Book of Amun-ra, and mom had told me all about the book, and I knew that Evelyn was probably trying to figure out where it was. I just wanted to find it, quick. The whole city had the atmosphere of a ranch when a faithful and beloved horse had passed on from some sickness; sorrowful, and tense, worried who would be next. Outside the streets had been so quiet, too quiet, and I didn't trust the stillness, I made me feel as if Imhotep, and death, could appear at any moment.

I didn't have long to wait for it, as we reached the top of the stairs I could hear a low chanting, as if a whole mob was involved in an ancient ritual. Everyone else heard it as well, and walked over to the nearest window, next to the staircase. As I looked out, what I saw made me want to scream. There was indeed a mob of people, the whole city, it looked like, all walking towards the museum, carrying torches and weapons. And in the middle of them all, was Imhotep. I gripped dad's neck a little tighter, knowing he would tell me if he couldn't breathe.

"And last but not least, my favorite plague, the boils and sores." Jonathan said bitterly. I hoped that it really was the last one, I could remember a few others that I hadn't seen happen now, and I hoped that this was all that was going to happen, it was bad enough.

"They have become his slaves." Ardeth said. "And it has begun, the beginning of the end."

I turned away from the mob, praying silently _please don't let this be how it ends, please don't let us die._

"Not quite yet, it hasn't." Evelyn said determinedly, turning to a large, dark stone tablet full of hieroglyphs. She began to scan through it, and Dr. Bey quickly joined in. I could hear the mob getting louder, which meant they were closer as well. I shivered, and tried to stay focused on what Evelyn was saying.

"Now, according to Bembrige Scholars, the book of Amun-ra is inside the statue of _Anubis_." She said as she read the tablet.

"That's where we found the black book!" Dad spoke up.

"_Exactly._" Evelyn said.

"So it looks like Bembrige was mistaken." Jonathan said, and I thought I could hear a kind of note of triumph in his voice.

"Yes." Evelyn said, reading faster. "They mixed the books up, mixed up where they were buried." She paused, thinking. "So if the black book was inside Anubis, then the golden book must be inside" she trailed off as she read.

"Come on, Evie, read faster!" Jonathan said anxiously.

"Patience is a virtue!" Evelyn sang as she read. I couldn't blame her, she was reading so fast I was surprised she could translate all that so quickly.

"Not right now it isn't!" Rick said as the mob became louder, and their yells echoed as it became apparent that they were inside the musem.

"I think I'll go get the, uh, car started." Jonathan said nervously and ran down some stairs that led away from the mob as Evelyn backed away from the tablet, looking triumphant.

"I've got it! The book of Amun-ra is at Hamunaptra inside Horus!" She grinned proudly. "Take THAT, Bembrige Scholars!"

At first I was happy as well. Evelyn knew where the book was! Evelyn knew where the book was! It was all going to be okay, we knew how to kill Imhotep. But then, after just a few seconds of joy, it was replaced by the dead weight of the single thought; We had to go back to Hamunaptra, nearly a nights ride from here.

Dad gripped onto me tightly as he nearly sprinted down the stairs, everyone else behind us. For the moment I was glad I wasn't running down them either, I'm clumsy on stairs, and nearly always trip going down them, I would have rolled to the bottom at the speed dad was going.

"Let's go, let's go!" Dad yelled behind us at the others as he ran outside to Jonathan. "Get this thing in gear, boy, and let's get outta here!" He said as Jonathan pulled up and he jumped on the trunk of the car, sitting ontop of the trunk with his legs in the seat so that everyone could fit. Jonathan took off fast, even before Dr. Bey had barely gotten in the back seat, and I clung to dad's arms to keep myself firmly in his lap.

"Imhotep! Imhotep!" Beni yelled as he ran outside and spotted us. I could hear the familiar howl from upstairs in the museum, as Imhotep commanded his brain-washed followers to chase after us.

"You're gonna get yours! You hear me?" Rick had turned around and was yelling at Beni as Jonathan drove away from the museum. "You're gonna get yours!"

Beni yelled something back, but I couldn't hear it, the squeal of the tires as Jonathan turned down a street and nearly unseated me and dad drowned it out.

Rick sat down as Jonathan drove down a darker street. Up ahead there were some darker shapes, but I figured they were shadows and didn't say anything, but regretted it when Jonathan slammed on the brakes, and, if it hadn't been for dad's arms, I would've gone flying into the front of the car. The dark shapes had been _people._ Apparently Imhotep's minions had broken into groups, and one of those groups was blocking the road, glaring at us.

There were a few moments of dead silence, Jonathan waiting for the group ahead to do something, and the people waiting for Jonathan to make a move so they could attack, like two animals fighting.

The car lurched forward violently as Rick slammed Jonathan's foot into the gas pedal, and the car regained the speed we'd been going in about four seconds.

"Hang on!" Rick yelled as the mob ran at us, and we drove at them. I winced in anticipation as I waited for the sound of the car hitting people. Sure enough, every one running at the car bounced off it, helped by Rick and Ardeth punching anyone trying to hang on to it. But soon they started to hang on better, and Dad let go of me with one arm and punched one of two guys who'd ganged up on Ardeth. I leaned over and hit a guy in the face who was on Dr. Bey's side. It wouldn't have been enough to knock him off the car, only to daze him for a second, had dad not shifted his weight back, so that my fist had more momentum. Finally we got all of them off, and Jonathan once more concentrated on out driving the mob, which was now chasing us rather than running at us. It seemed like we were going to get away alright, there was a corner up ahead somewhere that Jonathan could turn down and possibly lose them, but then I felt two pairs of arms grab dad, and me, and pull both of us out of the car. Dad hit the ground hard, and it knocked my failing grip off of him, and I got up quickly and ran behind him, out of the way, as he sprang up and pulled out his guns, shooting at anyone who even turned toward us.

My lip began to tremble. There was no way we were going to get out of this, there were too many people and not enough bullets in his pistols. As if they knew this, the crowd began to make a semi-circle around us, blocking us into the corner of two buildings, just as his pistols began to click, out of bullets. Despite that there were no more, he kept them up, it was better than just hanging your arms at your sides, but I began to shake, even more than he did, as I could see the crowd of silent minions slowly begin to part. He was here. Imhotep was here. He stepped through the crowd slowly, knowing he had all the time in the world, and the crowd came back together as he passed them. I gripped dad's shirt tighter as Imhotep smirked. Dad's pistols dropped out of his limp hands, and he slowly reached into his coat to take out the jar. I squeezed my eyes shut, making the tears there run down my cheeks as I heard Imhotep roar. Dad screamed, and I could feel him slipping away from my hands. I still hung onto his shirt, but I could feel him slipping away, before he stopped screaming, and fell backwards on top of me. I burst into tears as I got out from underneath him, staying on my knees. I gripped the side of his shirt as I doubled over, I had opened my eyes for half a second, and half a second too long. He looked like Uncle Mark and Uncle Andrew did, and his arm was out behind him like he'd been trying to find and hold my hand. I doubled over even more, my head hitting his stomach, and I screamed when I could feel his spine. This wasn't supposed to happen. _This wasn't supposed to happen!_ We were supposed to have come out here, found a small bit of treasure, and gone home and built a new barn, bought new horses, new cows, things like that. I wasn't supposed to be the only one going home!

I screamed and gripped dad's shirt tighter when I felt a pair of hands trying to pull me away. Anyone I knew wouldn't have been trying to do this, and I couldn't leave dad here! The Imhotep's hands pried me away, and pulled me off of dad, and Imhotep carried me under his arm, like a baby with a toy.

As he walked away, taking me with him, the numbness set in.

_and theres evelyn and oh glory what if he got rick and ardeth and jonathan too and what if she blames me and where am i and what happened to dad and will rick find him and bring him back and why am i flying. has imhotep killed me. i dont think so but i don't know if heaven has sand or not but what if it does and i am dead then wheres mom and dad and uncle mark and uncle andrew. is uncle andrew gonna be upset because i promised him we'd go riding once we got home but we never came home so we didnt go riding. what is evelyn doing here is she dead to but beni's here so i can't be dead and why is evelyn carrying me i can walk and besides dad can carry me just fine but where is he i dont see him. and where is rick and jonathan and what about ardeth. and now theres sand flying everywhere and evelyns happy but i cant smile and whats going on and we're back here again but i have to warn them to stay out of the city imhotep is walking around and i dont know how i know him and he took uncle andrews eyes. and the city is cold. _


	12. Lines in the Sand

**A/N: I am really sorry that, after so long, this chapter is so short. There were a lot of things that happened this summer, I had two camps, and I lost a family member, so I was just getting to the point where I knew I needed to get SOMETHING up, to get me back in the swing of writing. So, Chapter 13 will be MUCH longer. **

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Chapter 12

Lines in the Sand

The city is cold, very cold. Only now, without Dad's torch do I realize that. I think it would be colder, but Imhotep has his hand on my shoulder. I don't know why, but I know its useless to protest, though, what could he do to me now? He's already taken away the brightest stars in my life, and my eyes can't adjust without them. I remember that line from a novel mom started, but never published, but that she would still read to me. It's very appropriate for me now.

Imhotep keeps watching me, impatiently, as though he's waiting for me to start doing something. What else can I do but walk along through the city? We're really deep inside it now, deeper than Dad would have ever let me go, if we'd ever made it down this far.

I held back a sob. Dad. I can't think about Dad. Or Uncle Mark, Or Uncle Andrew. Or home, really. I'm almost glad that we're this deep inside, nothing can remind me of them. I've never been scared of pain before, but this kind of pain terrifies me. Is this what Dad went through when Mom died? And Uncle Mark and Uncle Andrew? How was he not stumbling along in a daze?

Imhotep stopped me, and reached in his robe for the jars, putting them down on a table. He took one of them, Dr. Chamberlain's, I think, and opened it, pouring a powder into his hand. That's weird, I didn't think that organs were supposed to turn into powder, even if they were this old. Weren't Tutkanamen's organs still intact in their jars when they opened his tomb a few years ago? Maybe it's part of some other curse, I don't know, and I don't really care, either.

He blew the powder out of his hand so that it fell on some carvings in the wall, and said something that I didn't understand. And then I heard it. A groaning sound, followed by a sort of creaking, coming from the wall! Suddenly, the carving of the priests jolted slightly, and stone fell away from the wall, to reveal two mummies! They climbed out of the wall, and began to walk towards me. Behind me, I could hear Evelyn say something, but I wasn't sure what it was.

Fear. Perhaps that's what kept Daddy from simply giving in to the pain and the numbness. One of the mummies reached out his hands toward me, and I backed away. He stepped toward me still, but Imhotep cut him off with a command in Ancient Egyptian that I didn't understand. The other one obeyed instantly, bowing, but the one who had held out his hands to me stared at me for a second, before Imhotep glared at him, said something else to him, and then he bowed, and shuffled off with the other one.

Imhotep opened another jar from the table. I bit my lip, it was Uncle Mark's. He beckoned Evelyn and me to walk over. Evelyn put her hands on my shoulders, and I reached up with my left hand to grab hers. He poured powder in his hand, murmured something I couldn't understand, and blew it on us.

And then there was nothing but darkness.


	13. Sacrifices and Keys

Chapter 13

Sacrifices and Keys

I opened my eyes drowsily, where was I? I tried to move my arms, but when I was fully awake, I realized that I was tied to a pillar with a rope. What was going on? I turned my head, trying to see around the room. Was Evelyn in here too? I looked around, it didn't bug me that I didn't recognize the room, I didn't recognize anything down here. It seemed more like a passage chamber, there were two wide doors that marked the hall on either side of the room.

Then I heard footsteps coming into the room. "Hello?" I called. The figure walked, stiffly, into the room, and I held my breath, trying not to scream. One of the priests; I would have said he was the one from before, but they all looked the same anyway, I couldn't tell. I assumed he was the same one though, he didn't have sand on him. I hoped he wouldn't see me, but he turned, and began to walk toward me. This time I did scream, especially when he dropped on his knees in front of me, reaching out his hand.

It seemed like an hour, though it was probably only two minutes at the longest, when Ardeth ran into the room. The priest stood up from where he had been untying my hands (I didn't know why) turning around to face him, standing in front of me. Ardeth pulled out his sword, and lunged at the priest. I turned back around. I didn't like watching sword fights. Swords just kinda scared me, I don't know why they do and guns don't, but still, they just do. The priest kept giving little shrieks here and there, and that scared me too, just a little. I jumped every time I heard Ardeth's sword clash, until, after a mere few minutes, the priest gave one last shriek, and then Ardeth stopped, breathing just a little harder than normal.

I turned around, the priest was lying on the floor, cut into several pieces. Ardeth turned to me.

"Are you alright, Sarah?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I said. "Where are Jonathan and Rick?"

"Trying to find the other girl, Evelyn." He said, cutting through the rope that tied my hands to the pillar. "I ran out of ammunition, and ran back the other way, when I heard you screaming."

"Thanks for saving me, by the way." I said, standing up. "I don't know why that priest kept following me around."

"Neither do I." Ardeth smiled slightly. "And I'm supposed to know these things."

"Can we get out of here?" I asked. "This place is really starting to scare me again."

"Yes, come with me." Ardeth said, offering his hand. I took it, and we walked out of the room. "We'll wait for O'Connell, Evelyn, and her brother, outside. It will be safer."

We walked in silence for a few minutes. I didn't know what to say, and he wasn't offering up a conversation either. I looked up at him, and found he was looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I have not met many young girls, Sarah, but I know that most would not keep going on as you have." He commented. He must have seen the frown on my face as I tried to figure out exactly what he was saying, if it was a compliment, or if he was saying that I wasn't upset like I probably still should be, like most people probably would be. "Not that you are emotionally cold, but that you are stronger than, forgive me, stronger than I thought you would be." He explained.

I looked up at him in a little bit of shock. He'd just given me a compliment. Since I'd met him, I could tell that he didn't talk a lot, and when he did, compliments were rare.

"Um, thank you." I said, blushing slightly. We looked away from each other. That was the one thing I hated about compliments like that, it was so awkward afterwards.

We walked along in silence, though we were still holding hands. It was so quiet here! I wished that Ardeth would talk, but he didn't look like he was planning to, and if he was thinking, I didn't want to interrupt him either. I didn't want to think. Nothing was a safe subject for me to think about anymore. Or at least, not until I knew that Evelyn, Rick, and Jonathan were okay. Until then, I couldn't think, unless I wanted to scare myself with thinking about the priest, or Imhotep. Wait, no, can't think about Imhotep either, I might start thinking about Dad, Uncle Mark, or Uncle Andrew. And then I would start crying. I didn't want Ardeth to see me cry. I didn't care that he probably already had, but he couldn't read my thoughts, and, when mom had died, Dad would often panic when he saw me crying for what seemed like no reason.

No! Can't think about Dad. Not about Mom either. Not about home. Not about the horses, or the other animal's we'd had on the ranch. I might start crying again.

Then our walk gave me another subject to think about. We were beginning to get into more familiar territory. I think I had run through this hallway- thing on the night that Evelyn had read the book. And now I had to ask Ardeth a question.

"Why did you just help me, instead of asking a bunch of questions, when you found me and Uncle Andrew here?" I asked out loud. Yes, I had mentioned Uncle Andrew, but maybe, if I did start crying, though I didn't feel like I was going to, he would know why.

"Given the state of your Uncle, I had a feeling that he was a victim, rather than a servant of the Creature." Ardeth said.

"But we could have been." I said.

"Yes, you could have been acting, or shocked that the Creature would do that to a servant of his, but, well, I suppose it was faith. I trusted you, and my men trusted me." Ardeth said softly. We were both speaking in whispers, it was so quiet here that it didn't seem right to speak in normal volumes.

"Thanks." I said, even though I didn't know why I did.

Ardeth nodded, and just then, the ground began to shake.

"What's happening?" I asked, now in a normal, if slightly loud, volume.

Ardeth thought for maybe a second, then turned his head sharply toward me. "Some one must have pushed the lever."

He didn't have to tell me what the lever did. My mother had told me countless times about the legend of Hamunaptra. "The lever" made the whole place collapse. Exactly how, no one was sure, but no one ever had been able to guess, and no one tried to.

"Run, Sarah!" Ardeth said, pulling me along as he ran through the hallway.

I ran, knowing he would pull me in the right direction. I didn't know how he knew this place so well. Maybe there was some special training he'd had to go through. Maybe he'd just been an adventurous kid. I didn't care, and yes, he did know where to go, and I soon found myself blinking as fast as I could as I ran out of the City into the bright sunlight. Glory it was hot! But it felt nice after being in the City for so long.

"Sarah, this way!" He said, running towards a group of camels. Nothing was really happening up here yet, but the ground was shaking a little bit, and the wild camels that had come to rest here were running away. The three saddled camels, however, were tied to a pillar, and couldn't run. They must have been Beni's, and the warden's, though I didn't know who the third had belonged to. Dr. Chamberlain's diggers all had had horses, and they all unsaddled theirs and set them free to graze at night, they were surely long gone by now. And Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan had ridden theirs when we left the City.

Ardeth untied the camels, and ran out of the City walls to safer ground. Now one of the camels laid down, and Ardeth climbed up to the saddle, and, almost automatically, picked me up with him.

"Um." He seemed to realize what he'd just done. "Sit on my knee, I suppose."

"Okay." I had done this with Mom when she'd taken me on digs. If I closed my eyes, well, it could never be the same, as no one could even imagine that there was no difference between my Mom's leg and Ardeth's, but it was almost like I was three again.

Ardeth let the other two camel's reins drop to the ground, and got the one we were riding to move. Apparently the camels were trained to be ground tied, and, now that they were out of danger, the other camels didn't follow us.

"We'll be safer a little farther away from the City." Ardeth explained as the camel happily trotted away from it. I nodded, and stared out at the sand dunes. How on earth they could look exactly the same, I don't think I'll ever understand. Was it only a few days ago, coming here, that I had thought about the exact same thing? It seemed, well, forever ago. 'Another life time.' Mom might've said.

It felt like hours later, even though it couldn't have been very long, Ardeth said ten minutes, when we could make out three small figures running out of the City walls, and toward the two camels.

"So they're safe." Ardeth murmured. "They have destroyed the Creature after all."

"I knew they could." I grinned, then turned to Ardeth. "Wanna scare Jonathan?"

He grinned back at me. "What do you want to do?"

"It's really easy. Just sneak up behind him and grab his shoulder." I smiled. "He'll probably jump a mile. Uncle Mark did that to me one Halloween."

Ardeth laughed softly, and some how got the camel to move so slowly that it made no noise. Not even Rick noticed us. Ardeth slowly leaned down, then grabbed Jonathan's shoulder somewhat roughly.

I was right, Jonathan did jump, and screamed. Even Evelyn and Rick jumped. I laughed as Ardeth helped me down from the camel, and he chuckled himself, sitting back up.

"Thank you!" Jonathan said sarcastically, putting a hand on his chest. "Thank you very much!"

"You have earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people." Ardeth smiled.

"Um, thanks, er, it was nothing." Jonathan wasn't quite sure what to say.

"May the Sun smile upon you always." Ardeth said, and made a sign with his hand that I didn't understand. I had a feeling it was a blessing of some sort, though.

"And-" Jonathan tried to imitate the sign, but made something so unrecognizable, that I had to laugh "-yourself."

Ardeth smiled at me once again, then turned his camel and rode away.

After he was, mostly, out of ear shot, Jonathan sighed. "He's just leaving us here."

"Not without a way home." I pointed out.

Jonathan sighed, looking back at the pile of sand where Hamunaptra used to be. "Well, I guess we go home empty handed. Again."

"I wouldn't say that." Rick said. I turned, and realized he was staring at Evelyn.

"Oh glory." I rolled my eyes, just at the same time Jonathan rolled his groaning, "Please!"

Jonathan grabbed one of the camel's reins, saying "How about you, darling, would you like a little kissy-wissy?"

I laughed as the camel burped in his face and he groaned "Ugh!" as he tried to wave the smell away from his nose.

"Hey Jon?" I asked.

"Yeah Sarah?" He turned back as the camel laid down.

"Mind if I climb up there with you? I'd like to be able to look the other direction from _them_, if you don't mind." I said, pointing behind me to Rick and Evelyn. Would they ever stop kissing? It was gross!

Jonathan laughed. "Sure Sarah." He said, pulling me onto his knee like I'd ridden with Ardeth.

Rick and Evelyn _finally _stopped kissing, and got onto their camel.

"Alright, let's go home." Jonathan sighed happily.

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**A/N: Okay, so this story is finished, but there IS, as I think I said earlier, a sequel coming. It's called _Scarab Key_, and it's, as you guessed, the Mummy Returns, plus Sarah. Before that, though, I've got a couple of drabbles that I've finished (and I was typing while waiting for that bolt of insparational lightning) and I'm going to post while I'm editing the first couple chapters of Scarab Key.**

**In the drabbles, and in Scarab Key, Sarah has been adopted by the O'Connell's. Trust me, I would have typed that, but I don't know all the legal things for adopting, and I always TRY to make things like that as realistic as possible. So...yeah, that was just an explanation of why I'm not typing that out.**

**Hope you enjoyed this story, thank you so much for reading it, and reviewing it!**


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